EF Family Cookbook: German Chocolate Wine Cake Recipe

For the fifth treasured family recipe in our Everlasting Footprint Family Cookbook, Cindy Readnower shares her friend Gina Ruzic-Jahn’s recipe for this homemade chocolate cake, both easy and decadent. Because it’s made with red wine, it’s worthy of celebrations like next week’s New Year’s parties.

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In this multi-cultural world, it’s fun to be introduced to traditions of friends and their families. My good friend Gina grew up with a mother, Ruth Wolter-Ruzic, from Braunschweig, Germany, and a father, Vlasta Ruzic, from Negotin, Yugoslavia, which is now part of Serbia. Gina’s parents married in Germany in 1949, before immigrating to Dayton, Ohio, where they brought their unique family heritage. Carrying on traditions from both countries, Gina learned to speak German fluently as a child, and spoke some Yugoslavian as well. And she learned to love traditional German recipes.

Ruth fed her family dinners of traditional recipes for dishes like Rouladen (beef wrapped around pickles with mustard), Hazelnut Torte, and Apple Kuchen. Gina later lived in Germany for 20 years and married a German citizen, who also introduced her to his family recipes for dishes like Ribchem (smoked pork chops smothered in sauerkraut).

Gina’s mother Ruth was a wonderful cook, and she passed down many traditional German recipes to Gina. I have sampled several of these ladies’ incredibly flavorful meals and have learned to admire German foods. Although many meals may be seen as heavy, the German philosophy of activity and frequent walking seems to help their health. When I visited Germany, I admired elderly people hiking up large hills and keeping up with younger crowds.

A unique, unusual dessert that uses familiar ingredients is Ruth and Gina’s treasured family recipe for GermanChocolate Wine Cake. This moist chocolate cake recipe is easy, and the addition of wine gives it a nice twist of taste.

It doesn’t take a lot of work for this homemade chocolate cake, and the cake itself makes a nice presentation. Everyone “ooohs” and “ahhhs” at the results of this decadent chocolate cake recipe.

Chocolate Wine Cake Recipe

Chocolate Wine Cake Ingredients:

1 and 1/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar

3 and 1/2 cups flour

4 eggs, separated

1 Tbsp. cocoa

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup raisins

12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Confectioner Sugar, for topping

Chocolate Wine Cake Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9.5” springform pan. Line the bottom with baking paper and grease again.

Let cake cool completely, remove sides from pan, flip the pan over on a rack or plate, and remove baking paper. Sift powdered sugar over cake.

Continuing the legacy of great cooks the world around, we honor and remember Ruth Wolter-Ruzic each time we enjoy her moist German chocolate wine cake recipe. Thank you Ruth, and thank you Gina for sharing your treasured family recipe, so we can make it part of our own family memories.

German Chocolate Wine Cake

The Everlasting Footprint Storybook is the perfect place to share, collect, and collaborate on family recipes. Create a Footprint for a loved cook in your family, and begin to celebrate your family’s heritage together.

About Cindy Readnower

Cindy Readnower, MBA, specializes in sales, marketing, and entrepreneurship. An award-winning certified Life Coach, business consultant, and publisher at Skinny Leopard Media, she helps writers produce and promote their books. She is a newspaper columnist, author of "Inherited Secrets," and a blogger.